Christopher Columbus' lost ship, the Santa Maria, may have been found!

[Jimbuna]

Here's me thinking George Washington founded the US first

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Here's me thinking George Washington founded the US first

George founded the CIA and led the first American army and he was made the first president for his victories.
Not bad for a toothless old git in a powdered whig.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

George founded the CIA and led the first American army and he was made the first president for his victories.
Not bad for a toothless old git in a powdered whig.

Somebody has been watching Turn.

[swamprat69er]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Here's me thinking George Washington founded the US first

Naw! He just chopped down an old Cherry Tree that probably had Black Knot in it anyway.

[u crank]

Interesting. Just finished reading Columbus: The Four Voyages, 1492-1504 by Laurence Bergreen. Some notes from the book. The shipwreck occurred on Christmas eve, 1492. The crew had been drinking to celebrate the occasion and with a fairly calm sea the helmsman turned over the tiller to the ship's boy and went to sleep. Ship struck a reef with a 14 year old at the helm.
Despite all attempts to free her including off loading the cargo with help of natives the ship was lost.

Columbus turned the disaster to something in his favor and claimed Divine intervention. Always on the lookout for future endeavors he used the ships timbers to build a fort, La Navidad, and he left 39 of his men there to man it as the other two ships returned to Spain. In effect, he created the necessity of a rescue mission because he feared his future voyages would not be sponsored by the Spanish crown. His fear was based on the fact that he had not found what he had promised to find; the riches of China.

On his return he found that all the men had perished although their exact fate was hard to determine. Some had obviously been killed by the natives but the reason was never known. One can guess.

Great book, highly recommended.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by u crank

His fear was based on the fact that he had not found what he had promised to find; the riches of China.

I haven't seen anyone speculate about it in print, but I've always wondered if Columbus himself had a pretty good idea of the truth of his discoveries, but never dared admit it for that very fear. He had after all claimed the world was much smaller than his opponents did, and his claims were based on the work of Martinus of Tyre, which gave a much smaller estimate than did the findings of Ptolemy two hundred years later.

I also wonder if he didn't use the computations for a smaller earth intentionally, convinced that he would never get backing if he admitted the voyage might have been longer than was feasible at the time.

[u crank]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I haven't seen anyone speculate about it in print, but I've always wondered if Columbus himself had a pretty good idea of the truth of his discoveries, but never dared admit it for that very fear.

I also wonder if he didn't use the computations for a smaller earth intentionally, convinced that he would never get backing if he admitted the voyage might have been longer than was feasible at the time.

Well that seems to be Bergreen's conclusion. He paints a somewhat unflattering portrait of Columbus but does consider him to be a brilliant sailor, given the technology of his time. Basically nothing. What he does seem to say is that Columbus did indeed to a certain extent, intentionally mislead people as to what he had discovered and also was intentionally vague about how to get there. Course he didn't want anybody else to get the credit or the perceived riches that he was sure were just over the horizon. In the end Columbus died without being exactly aware of what or where the lands were that he discovered. He had no idea about the size of South America, the existence of North America and that a huge ocean had to be crossed to get to China.

[TarJak]